Sunday, June 27, 2010

Scout is a sweet scruffy terrier mix that was rescued from a high kill shelter in San Bernardino. She was then taken to a pet store, where she was passed over for the younger pups.

She is safe now with her foster family. Scout is two years old and weighs 18 pounds. She gets along well with her foster brother, and she loves to go on long walks. Scout does not pull on her leash but walks perfectly by your side, often looking up gratefully with her pretty brown eyes.

She is very friendly and well mannered. Scout already knows how to sit and is housebroken. Scout rarely barks, and is happy to relax on the couch. She loves other dogs and people.

If you'd like you meet Scout, contact her foster mom Mancy at 213-309-3605.

Everything began in late 1917 when Charlie Chaplin decided to find a dog for his new film "A Dog's Life". First he knew what he didn't want : a trained dog. "These studio beasts are too well kept", he told a journalist. "What I want is a dog that can appreciate a bone and is hungry enough to be funny for his feed". Knowing how the mongrels were genuinely funny, he went to a pound and came back with 20 of them. Among them : Mut. Which soon became the star of the film. And the Mascot of the studio. But there was a problem. Charlie and Mut got along too well and, coming from a pound (life is hard folks) Mut really fell for the famous tramp, his master. Even if Charlie made him "whisky drunk" to shoot the famous pillow scene.

In a way, it was love and war who decided of the fate of this smart dog. Maybe because Mut came from a pound, he loved Chaplin too hard, too fast. And because it was World War I, Charlie Chaplin went away around the country to sell war bonds. Mut was so sad about it, he refused to eat and wandered around the studios searching for Chaplin for days and looking miserable. He died a few days before Chaplin's return. The loving pooch was buried on the studio grounds and, on his grave, they wrote : "Mut, died April 29th - a broken heart". "A Dog's Life" was Chaplin's biggest hit at the time. And all the world fell in love with Mut alias Scraps in the movie, the dog who loved too much...

Saturday, June 26, 2010

"He was born in Bercy on the outskirts of Paris and trained in France, and while he knows a little Poodle-English, he responds quickly only to commands in French. Otherwise he has to translate, and that slows him down."

Friday, June 25, 2010

I highly recommend adopting animals ( obviously). What I recommend even more is adopting a pair or a few siblings from an animal family. I did just that and am handsomely rewarded every day of my life with beautiful cat love. Tony and Richard give each other baths which is honestly the most adorable thing a pair of cats can do in my opinion. Richard doesn't care that Tony's butt smells like stinky feet- they are brothers and for that reason are accepting of each other for eternity.

SEATTLE -- Colton Harris-Moore, the teen fugitive who has eluded capture for two years, left a handwritten note and $100 at a veterinary clinic in Raymond, Wash., Raymond police told the CBS News program "48 Hours".

Police told a "48 Hours" producer that the crime lab dusted the note for fingerprints and matched the prints to Harris-Moore, the 19-year-old who left a halfway house two years ago and is suspected of dozens of thefts in five Washington counties, British Columbia and Idaho.

Police said the note was left on May 30 or May 31 in the town near the coast along Highway 101, about a 95-mile drive southwest of Seattle.

The note appears to confirm the suspicion that Harris-Moore has moved from Camano Island south, to the banks of the Columbia River that divides Washington and Oregon.

Matthew Workman, the police chief of Warrenton, Ore., told the Everett Herald on Wednesday that Harris-Moore may be a suspect in connection with a boat theft, a car theft and the attempted theft of a plane on June 1, a day or two after the note was left in Raymond, Wash.

"It stands to reason they would be related," he told the newspaper.

Officials are analyzing fingerprints taken from a $450,000 boat stolen from Ilwaco, Wash., and recovered at a dock near the southern end of the Astoria-Megler Bridge, the Herald said.

State and federal authorities have conducted massive searches for the teen in the past two years, but have never found him.Several Seattle bounty hunters have also been looking for him since June 2. The recovery agents volunteered their services and also added $2,500 to the reward fund.

An anonymous donor offered Harris-Moore $50,000 to turn himself in to police, but his five-day window passed and the teen did not contact authorities.

He earned the moniker "The Barefoot Bandit" by reportedly committing some of the crimes in his bare feet. Last fall, footprints were found at an airport hangar in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, where a plane was stolen then crash-landed 260 miles to the west, near Granite Falls. And in February, someone who broke into a grocery store in the San Juan Islands drew cartoonish, chalk-outline feet all over the floor.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

I am looking for a forever home. I am super sweet, potty trained, and will be good with all family members.I love playing with toys and cuddling. Please let my friends at Sante D'or know if you or anyone else wants to adopt me!Thanks!!!Love,

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Like so many others, Toffee was a dog that the shelter gave up on. They claimed he could not be leashed or touched, that he was mean and always tried to bite. They kept him in a back room where the public could not see him. They saw a dog that was a problem.

We at AHAW saw a dog that was very scared, neglected and abused in his short life - he was a jewel just waiting to shine!

After leaving the shelter we were sure we heard a sigh of relief as Toffs climbed into the back seat of the car and cuddled in a lap.

Within five minutes of arriving at his foster's home he was taking treats out of our hands. We distracted him with little bites of hot dog and put a collar around his neck!

And, before we knew it, he was walking gracefully around the yard on a leash!!! Clearly Toffee was ready to trust us.

He has now blossomed and definitely knows how to pose and look adorable....

Toffee loves playing fetch in the back yard and chasing squirrels that run along the property wall. He races around with a stuffed toy in his mouth, and, on rare occasions, will stop for a yawn when he thinks no one is looking.

In the past few months previously-skinny Toffee has filled in and now weighs about 20 lbs.

As you can see Toffee has adapted nicely and has left all those bad experiences in his previous life....BEHIND!

He loves his treats, is very eager to please, but remains a bit worried about strangers - especially men. A remnant from his past that he wants so much to overcome. Toffee is a smart dog who just needs his new people to allow him to settle in and feel comfortable, just as he has done in his foster home. He's a jewel in our eyes and once you meet him, we know he will shine for you as well.

Please email ashleyandhobie@hotmail.com if you would like to meet Toffee. An application, home check, contract and adoption fee will be required.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Back in February I adopted a Basset Hound down in Florida while visiting my mom. He (Winston) was pretty sick when we got him and I spent the better part of two months trying to get him back to good health. He had major colitis issues and was prescribed panacur on a few occasions. The ASPCA originally updated his shots, neutered him, and worked with us for a bit and he finally seemed to be healthy around April. I have since moved to Brooklyn and went to get set up with a new vet up here yesterday and I found out he has heart worms. I had him on Revolution and the ASPCA had originally tested for heart worms, but the vet in Brooklyn thinks they were either in the nymph stage and not detectable yet or the original results were a false negative.

Anyways, I am wondering if any Widening Circle readers have had any experience with either the"fast kill" or "slow kill" method? Winston is super active and cruises all around different neighborhoods with me almost everyday. He looks forward to running around like I do riding my skateboard and I don't know how he would deal with being crated for 60 days. Plus I'm not sure I can afford the $1000 + bill right now since I just moved and I'm currently unemployed. The slow kill method on heart guard might work but then again I don't know how he would react to having to be very inactive for the next 18 mos or so and I'm worried about the long-term damage to his heart and lungs.

I can't believe how rough this whole process has been. He is such an incredible dog and I am so happy to have him, but it's so frustrating to know how easily this could have been prevented! I have been searching around message boards for advice, but any anecdotal stories would be very helpful.